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Sundance Film Festival · 2010

Sundance Film Festival 2010

US Documentary Competition

This year’s 16 films were selected from 862 submissions. Each film is a world premiere.

Programme

16 films · 7 reviews

Jump to a film

12th & Delaware

The abortion battle continues to rage in unexpected ways on an unassuming corner in America.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing) , Official site

Bhutto

A journey through the life and work of recently assassinated Benazir Bhutto, former Pakistani prime minister and a polarizing figure in the Muslim world.

(Country: US, Pakistan, UK; Year: 2009; Director: Jessica Hernandez, Johnny O'Hara; Writer: Johnny O'Hara; Stars: David Frost, Kathleen Kennedy, Condoleezza Rice, Benazir Bhutto, Tariq Ali, Asif Ali Zardari, Pervez Musharraf, Fatima Bhutto, Iyad Hajjaj, Sanam Bhutto, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari)

Casino Jack and the United States of Money

A probing investigation into the lies, greed and corruption surrounding DC super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff and his cronies.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Alex Gibney) , Official site

Family Affair

An uncompromising documentary that examines resilience, survival and the capacity to accommodate a parent's past crimes in order to satisfy the longing for family.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Chico Colvard; Writer: Chico Colvard) , Official site

Freedom Riders

The story behind a courageous band of civil rights activists - the Freedom Riders - who, in 1961, creatively challenged segregation in the American South.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Stanley Nelson)

GasLand

A cross-country odyssey uncovers toxic streams, dying livestock, flammable sinks and weakening health among rural citizens on the front lines of the natural gas drilling craze.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Josh Fox; Writer: Josh Fox; Stars: Josh Fox) , Official site

Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child

The story of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work defined, electrified and challenged an era, and whose untimely death at age 27 has made him a cultural icon.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Tamra Davis)

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work

Review preview for Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work

What is most surprising about this film is not the dilligence with which Sundberg and Stern set about following the course of Rivers through a year of her life - although that is certainly in evidence - but how incredibly welcoming she is.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Honest and open portrait of the groundbreaking comedienne.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg; Stars: Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers)

Full review See: Article on Joan Rivers at Sheffield DocFest

Lucky

Review preview for Lucky

Although presenting a multifaceted view of the winners and losers behind the millions (or lack of them), it's an overwhelmingly upbeat, positive experience.

James Benefield · 4 out of 5
The story of what happens when ordinary people hit the lottery jackpot.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Jeffrey Blitz)

Full review

My Perestroika

Review preview for My Perestroika

Another documentary gem from the incredibly strong factual line-up at Sundance 2010.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Five Muscovites talk about their lives and the changing state of Russia over the past 35 years.

(Country: US, UK, Russia; Year: 2010; Director: Robin Hessman) , Official site

Full review

The Oath

Review preview for The Oath

A low-key, but fascinating, documentary.

James Benefield · 4.5 out of 5
The story of two men whose fateful encounter in 1996 set them on a course of events that led them to Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, 9/11, Guantanamo, and the US Supreme Court.

(Country: US, Cuba, Yemen; Year: 2010; Director: Laura Poitras)

Full review

Restrepo

Review preview for Restrepo

Moving and extremely clear-sighted... will live long in the memory.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
Documentary shot by two filmmakers embedded with an Afghanistan US Army platoon for a year.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington)

Full review

A Small Act

Review preview for A Small Act

What gives the film an edge is its immediacy and emotional impact.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 5 out of 5
Giving poor children in Kenya a chance of further education and offering them hope for a better life.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Jennifer Arnold; Writer: Jennifer Arnold)

Full review

The Tillman Story (I'm Pat _______ Tillman)

The story of professional football star and decorated US soldier Pat Tillman, whose family takes on the US government when their beloved son dies in a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan in 2004.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Amir Bar-Lev)

Waiting For Superman

examines the crisis of public education in the United States through multiple interlocking stories—from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system.

(Country: US; Year: 2010; Director: Davis Guggenheim)